During the last quarter of 2013, Apple increased its share of the Chinese smartphone market to 7% on positive iPhone 5S demand but still trails in fifth place behind vendors with cheaper offerings. According to the latest statistics from market research firm IDC, Apple’s smartphone marketshare in China grew 1% quarter-to-quarter in the last three months of 2013, making it the fifth-largest handset vendor in the country according to The Wall Street Journal.

The numbers don’t include iPhone sales from the world’s largest cellular carrier China Mobile however, which recently inked a deal with Apple after years of rumors and back room negotiations. The partnership was officially announced in December and was expected to boost the iPhone’s presence in China.

Apple CEO Tim Cook was in China in January to hand out the first iPhones to China Mobile customers. The CEO later said he was “incredibly optimistic” about the China Mobile deal, adding that the iPhone was the beginning to the companies’ new partnership.

As for the other top five players in China’s smartphone market, Samsung once again captured the top spot, with its “whatever sticks” assortment of Android-based smartphones, nabbing a 19% share for the fourth quarter. Lenovo came in second with 13% of the market, while Coolpad rounded out the top three with an 11% share. Ahead of Apple in fourth place was Huawei, which managed to wrangle 10% of China’s smartphone business for the three-month period.

Although the big-name manufacturers battled for double-digit slices of China’s pie, dark horse Xiaomi nearly matched the iPhone’s market share with a 6% stake. The domestic electronics marker’s huge gains come as somewhat of a surprise given the firm launched its first handset only three years ago.

For those of you who didn’t already know, China is an important region for Apple’s future growth. During the company’s quarterly earnings conference call for the first fiscal quarter of 2014, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said China revenue came in at above $8.4 billion, up 29% from the year prior. The region accounted for the biggest positive year-over-year change for Apple during the three-month period ending in December.

We’ll have to see how Apple’s iPhone holds up in the market but it seems like it’s off to a good start.